THE QATSPY® Yankee Performance Sports Training & Apparel Quarters
By: Charles W. Boatright
The Video Series of the 405 Orange Bucket Challenge- This is an Exercise Challenge for the Golfer to get 4-of-5 Golf Shots in a Drop Zone
Below was a video that was shown on a local Sports show from the raw taping below:
Just a little background on the taping: The raw tapping was done in the first take each without do-overs. The raw tapping was not edited in any way of manner. The film crew was asking if it was going to take one-and-a-half hours to film. I stated it should take about 30-minutes. I perform this drill everyday hitting 50 shots with each club in my bag to within 15-foot of my orange bucket.
You’ve got to train your subconscious mind using challenges, or drills, not swing thoughts.
Last week, I went to Germantown High School Football field and videotaped my 405- Orange Bucket Challenge in three segments- Introduction, a Walk-through, and an actual Demo tape, shown below in the raw taping:
Introduction
Walk-through
Demo Tape
Most golfers are all too familiar with THE DISCONNECT between their practice on the range and their performance on the golf course. This disconnect affects all level of golfers, from amateur to the professional ranks. All too often, amateur golfers can’t even dream of having a single-digit handicap, much less shooting in the mid- 80’s. The average golfer shoots in the low nineties, even after years of playing golf.
The problem that most amateur golfers have in dealing with this DISCONNECT is that they are working on the wrong part of their mind with swing thoughts. Yogi Berra had a great quote about baseball batters that also applies to golfers equally- “How can you think and hit at the same time?”
The answer to Yogi’s question is that you CAN’T. What is true for batters is also true for golfers. You can’t train your mind with swing thoughts and expect to improve your golf game; it won’t happen this way. I can guarantee it.
First of all, we start off with swing thoughts in our initial training sessions, but we have to develop and progress to an instinctive routine, beyond thinking. Our golf swing, like most regular activities we do in life, is heavily reliant on our natural instincts. For instance, take driving a vehicle, for example, and how many times do we actually think about every element in your driving? Ninety percent of driving is an instinctive routine, for good or bad.
I can guarantee the golfer this one fact, that we might practice golf using our conscious mind, in thinking, but once we step foot onto the golf course, we are totally reliant on our subconscious mind, using our natural instincts.
The Instincts that I Developed Using the Orange Bucket Challenge
Not developing instincts is the very reason why we can’t take our golf practice from the range to the golf course. But I have developed a method to break down this mental barrier and vicious cycle, which has allowed me to train my subconscious mind that will take over my golf game, once I step foot onto the golf course. The Orange Bucket Challenge will train the very part of our minds that we as golfers will be totally reliant on when we play golf, and that is our subconscious mind.
Let’s use a different type of driving that I’m demonstrating using the 405- Orange Bucket Challenge above in the three videos. Let’s go back to how we learned to drive a vehicle to train our subconscious mind for sports and also golf that works to get us In-The-ZONE.
If you have driven a vehicle, or ridden even a bicycle, if you aren’t of driving age, for years this might have occurred to you usually on a very familiar scenic highway, especially on a beautiful day. You’re driving along and all of a sudden you don’t remember driving past certain stretches of your route or past certain notable landmarks. But you were still were able to negotiate your route and the traffic without incident. This usually occurs for short (4-to-5 minutes) periods of time.
The technical name for this condition is called Driving Hypnosis, but I refer to this condition as performing In-The-ZONE. Here are three conditions that have to be in place in order to perform In-The-ZONE to occur:
- Normal and routine tasks and conditions must exist.
- Rely on a high degree of relaxation, confidence, and muscle memory.
- The conscious and subconscious minds are focused on two different situations.
If you consider these three conditions, these develop what pilots call being on autopilot for a short period of time. This is exactly how you want to perform as an athlete on the court, course, or field, like a pilot that just engaged their autopilot. Two main emphases are right in the first condition- establishing a routine under similar conditions that must exist.
So why is establishing a routine under similar conditions that important to the athlete’s performance to be listed in the first condition? When the athlete practices on the practice field, range, or backyard going though their routine, they are usually practicing their routine with adrenaline pumping through their veins.
So what does adrenaline do to our performance on the court, course, or field? Adrenaline heightens our natural instincts and disengages our thought processes. Adrenaline kicks in our natural instincts that are stored in our subconscious mind as a survival skill. Your subconscious mind is treating your golf swing and playing on a golf course just like a survival skill.
Because the reaction time we need is so crucial, our adrenaline bypasses our conscious mind and directly engages our subconscious mind. So all those hours developing swing thoughts in your practice sessions just got bypassed in an single instant when your adrenaline kicked in your instinctive performance.
So to develop an effective practice session, like how football coaches use the 7-on-7 drills, you’ve got to develop a condition that will allow your adrenaline to kick in your instincts and your natural routine from your subconscious mind.
A routine that is developed under actual conditions, even if those conditions are virtual or simulated, allows the athlete’s subconscious mind to kick in those same routines during their performance. The instinctive routine, or one’s muscle memory, allows the athlete to be relaxed and be confident during their performance, or In-The-ZONE.
The third condition is just as essential to the athlete by being able to disengage the conscious mind and allow the subconscious mind to take over their performance. Because, I can guarantee the golfer this one thing, that you’re not going to hit your golf shot with your swing thoughts; OH NO, you’re going to use your natural instincts, whatever those instincts are at the time.
The question then is HOW to engage our subconscious mind? During the 405- Orange Bucket Challenge, I’m considering myself as a spectator standing at the orange bucket behind the ropes, just watching my shots. This allows my subconscious mind to be unimpeded and confidently perform, without interference, from my conscious mind.
There are 10 Subconscious Rules to perform at a high level. Rule No. 9 states-
The greater the conscious effort reduces the subconscious intuitive response. This is huge in an athlete’s performance.
So in summary, use drills or challenges with each skill you’re trying to develop. I do the same for my pitch shot around the green and putting. I’m trying to get 4-out-of-5 shots to hit within my target area. This is especially the case if you videotape yourself doing the 4-out-of-5 Drill. Believe me, your adrenaline will be pumping through your veins doing a video tape. It is just like being on the golf course in a tournament.
Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that Driving Hypnosis is dangerous for driving a vehicle down the highway, but it works great for driving a golf ball down the fairway and onto the green. Just follow the three condition that I mention above and you will have a natural, instinctive golf game you can perform on the golf course where it counts.
Use this Link: on the QATR 411- Palmer D-PRO Golf Technique for more information on how to take your golf swing from practice to performance of playing In-The-ZONE.
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